Welcome to my world of craft!

So many ideas but not enough time….. My head is full of crafty gifts I want to make for friends and family this Christmas but starting to panic over the days flying past.
I started with a plan to Sew some pyjama bottoms for my nieces after seeing some great Michael Miller colour me in fabric but after a lot of searching gave up trying to buy some in the UK.

So I started to look through my other patterns and came across McCalls M6828 in my stash.

I didn’t think the girls would want to be a raccoon or fox so made a sketch of a rabbit design.
I bought two different colours of felt and matching pink felt trim and gorgeous pink fleece lining.

This one has taken me about 10 hours to sew due to figuring out a better way to attach the lining.
Now I need to adjust the pattern to fit a three year old for the other coat as the pattern started at age 6.
I’ll post photos of the brown version when I get round to that one!

I ordered some new goodies from Paper panda on Friday night and they arrived in Saturday morning. So I decided that a rainy Sunday afternoon was the perfect time to have a go at some of the miniature templates I ordered…… An hour later and I have managed to cut out the five above.

Paper panda indicates that ikea sell mini frames perfect for these….. Not sure what I will do with them so a few friends might be getting some for christmas!!

It took me over two hours to transfer all the pattern pieces onto paper and cut them out (all 30+ of them) and then a further 2 hours to line all my pieces onto the fabric to ensure all the seams line up….. Then a further two hours to cut out the interfacing and iron on to each section.

So very happy to finally do some actual sewing!! I have joined up all the body pieces, graded the seams and top stitched them in place.
I have the pocket to do tomorrow at sewing class and more lining sections to cut out.

I lined it with navy fleece and used a cute dinosaur fabric, both from fabricland down the road.
The design is reversible but I am sure he will keep the fleece on the inside. I added two pockets one on the side and one higher up to match in with the pattern design.

I made my daughter one earlier this year again with fleece inside but with owl print to match the cotton outside fabric.
The pattern was easy to follow and once I got going I managed to finish them a few hours.

I had a busy weekend sewing the floating bodice dress ready for today as I have been interviewing and needed a smart outfit.

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I had already bought some spotty navy blue fabric, dark lining and a zip from fabricland a few months ago but not got round to making it. This pattern came free a while ago with love sewing magazine.

The pattern instructions are very basic, it states you need interfacing but doesn’t mention anywhere what to do with it.
I used it to add stability to the neck line. I lined my dress to get a better fit but the instructions were for unlined so that took a bit more thinking to reach areas such as the shoulders seams on the floating section.

The back split was quite high when I finished it so stitched this a bit longer. I need to adjust the front and back darts to achieve a better fit but as the lining is hemmed in I probably won’t bother on this one but would if I make it again.
It is possibly as I had to adjust the pattern from a size 10 on top to a size 13 lower half ( I drew a line between a 12 and 14 as this war my closest measurement).
Overall I am happy with this for the price of 2 metres of fabric and seven hours sewing.

I have chosen a lovely tartan in teal and brown just to make it even harder!! It took me two hours just to position all the pieces and make sure the pattern matches. There are about 30 pattern pieces in total and 60 steps to make it.

The fabric was an eBay bargain as pre cut to three metres which happened to be how much I needed.

Then I have chosen a teal lining which has become very creased after washing it. Hopefully it will iron out with a bit of steam.